zed@mdbs.UUCP (Bill Smith) (02/15/90)
This is a meta note: Why is the ANSI definition of arrays such a chronic source of confusion? Was it screwed up so bad before that it will take a lot of work to re-train the masses? Is the current definition more sophisisticated than the old intuitive (?) version? Are the people who teach C unaware of the subtleties of what an array is? Please don't explain what the current and old definitions are. (Chris Torek and others have spent lots of time trying to explain this idea already.) I only wonder can be done to make the problem more readily understood. Zed Smith pur-ee!mdbs!zed (formely mdbs!wsmith) (personal opinion only)
chris@mimsy.umd.edu (Chris Torek) (02/15/90)
In article <1486@mdbs.UUCP> zed@mdbs.UUCP (Bill Smith) writes: >Why is the ANSI definition of arrays such a chronic source of >confusion? Was it screwed up so bad before that it will take >a lot of work to re-train the masses? > >Is the current definition more sophisisticated than the old >intuitive (?) version? Are the people who teach C unaware of >the subtleties of what an array is? The `current' definition (by which I presume you mean the ANSI C definition) of arrays is, for all intents and purposes, identical to the K&R-1 definition. The only change was the addition of a notion of `incomplete' types, and that an array with unknown size is an incomplete type. As for the lattermost question: I suspect that yes, many people who teach C do not understand how C arrays work---that is, do not understand that C arrays are, at best, second class citizens; that there are no array values, only array objects. -- In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7163) Domain: chris@cs.umd.edu Path: uunet!mimsy!chris
cjoslyn@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu (Cliff Joslyn) (02/16/90)
In article <22550@mimsy.umd.edu> chris@mimsy.umd.edu (Chris Torek) writes: >As for the lattermost question: I suspect that yes, many people who >teach C do not understand how C arrays work---that is, do not understand >that C arrays are, at best, second class citizens; that there are no >array values, only array objects. This posting comes at a very opportune time for me: I am a new C teacher, and I begin arrays (not pointers yet) next week, with much trepidation. Chris, I have read your postings with much interest, but am sure I don't have your Complete Story of Arrays and Pointers. If this is a good time to repost something like that (complete yet concise), I would be greatly appreciative, and the net might welcome it as well. Perhaps you have something prepared to post. Or, email would be welcome. Thanks. -- O-------------------------------------------------------------------------> | Cliff Joslyn, Cybernetician at Large, cjoslyn@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu | Systems Science, SUNY Binghamton, Box 1070, Binghamton NY 13901, USA V All the world is biscuit shaped. . .